{"id":20742,"date":"2024-04-23T11:15:08","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T11:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interface.media\/?p=20742"},"modified":"2024-04-23T11:15:13","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T11:15:13","slug":"will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"Will AI gadgets replace the smartphone? Probably not yet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The smartphone, like the gun or high speed rail, is approaching being a \u201csolved technology.\u201d Each year\u2019s crop of flagship devices might run a little faster, bristle with even more powerful optics, and even fold in half like the world\u2019s most expensive piece of origami. At the core of it, however, smartphones have been doing the things that are actually central to their design for over five years at this point.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Smartphones are ubiquitous, connected, and affordable. Their form factor has defined the past decade. The question, however, is will it define the next decade? What about the next century? Or, as some suggest, is the age of the smartphone already drawing to a close?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-post-smartphone-world\">A post-smartphone world<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Ever since the smartphone rose to prominence, people have been looking for the technology that will supplant it. From the ill-fated Google Glass to Apple\u2019s new Vision Pro VR headset, the world\u2019s smartest people have invested billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of hours looking for something better than a rectangle of black glass.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn the long run, smartphones are unlikely to be the apotheosis of personal technology,\u201d wrote technology strategist Don Philmlee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com\/en-us\/posts\/legal\/practice-innovations-powerful-smartphones\/\">last year for Reuters<\/a>. When something does come along that breaks the smartphone\u2019s hold on us, Philmlee expects it to be a \u201cmore personal and more intimate technology. Maybe something that folds, is worn, is embedded under our skin, or is ambiently available in our environment.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right now, <a href=\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/18\/the-next-generation-of-generative-ai-will-be-trained-on-reddit-threads-and-tumblr-posts\/\">a new generation<\/a> of AI-powered gadgets are giving us a glimpse into what that could look like.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-ai-gadget-era-nbsp\">The AI gadget era?&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Tech giants and startups alike are racing to capitalise on the potential of <a href=\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/19\/data-centres-could-consume-energy-equivalent-to-japan-thanks-to-ai\/\">generative AI<\/a> to power a new wave of devices and gadgets.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right now, the first wave of devices, including Humane\u2019s AI Pin, Rabbit\u2019s R1, and Brilliant Labs\u2019 AI-powered smart glasses are among the first wave of these devices to hit the market.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of these devices substitute the traditional smartphone form factor for something smaller and voice controlled. They have a microphone and a camera for inputting commands. The devices then either dispense information via speaker or limited visual displays. Humane\u2019s AI-Pin even contains a projector that can shine text or simple images onto a nearby surface or the user\u2019s hand.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The specifics differ, but all these gadgets put artificial intelligence at the forefront of the user experience. A series of large language models then pars the queries. The results are generated by image analysers, large language models, and other cutting edge AI. \u201cAI is not an app or a feature; it\u2019s the whole thing,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/24117865\/ai-gadget-era-humane-rabbit-brilliant-meta\">writes the Verge\u2019s tech editor, David Pierce<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, creating novel hardware is difficult. Creating novel hardware that outperforms the smartphone? Things don\u2019t necessarily look good for the first crop of AI tech.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-shaky-start-for-the-first-crop-of-ai-gadgets\">A shaky start for the first crop of AI gadgets<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite Pierce\u2019s bold proclamation that \u201cwe\u2019ll look back on April 2024 as the beginning of a new technological era,\u201d even he is forced to admit that, when it comes to Humane\u2019s AI Pin, \u201cAfter many days of testing, the one and only thing I can truly rely on the AI Pin to do is tell me the time\u201d.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other reviewers have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cljdnw77ge6o\">similarly critical<\/a> of this first generation of AI gadgets. When reviewing the AI Pin, Marques Brownlee wrote, &#8220;this thing is bad at almost everything it does, basically all the time.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, devices like the Rabbit R1 have shown promise and generated excitement. By combining a Large Language Model with a \u201cLarge <em>Action <\/em>Model\u201d, the device can not only understand requests, but execute on them. For example, in addition to providing suggestions for a healthy dinner, Rabbit can reportedly place an order with a local restaurant, or purchase ingredients for delivery.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Large Action Model works almost similarly to an LLM, but rather than learning from a database of words, it is learning from actions humans can take on websites and apps \u2014 such as ordering food, booking an Uber or even super complex processes,\u201d wrote one reviewer. He explains that the Rabbit R1 isn&#8217;t trying to replace the smartphone. However, he notes that he &#8220;wouldn\u2019t be surprised if it becomes a handset substitute. This is a breakthrough product that I never knew I needed until I held one in my hands.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first wave of AI-powered consumer hardware is hitting the market, but can these devices challenge the smartphone\u2019s supremacy?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":480,"featured_media":20743,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-23T11:15:11Z","apple_news_api_id":"d54af91f-ff58-409a-9c78-583357cb3885","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-23T11:15:11Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A1Ur5H_9YQJqceFgzV8s4hQ","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"topic":[614],"class_list":["post-20742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-interface","topic-data-ai"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Will AI gadgets replace the smartphone? Probably not yet - Interface<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The first wave of AI-powered consumer hardware is hitting the market, but can these devices challenge the smartphone\u2019s supremacy?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Will AI gadgets replace the smartphone? Probably not yet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The first wave of AI-powered consumer hardware is hitting the market, but can these devices challenge the smartphone\u2019s supremacy?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Interface\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-23T11:15:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-23T11:15:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/04\/iStock-1406299821-e1713870725116.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1254\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"802\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Brightmore\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Brightmore\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/\",\"name\":\"Will AI gadgets replace the smartphone? Probably not yet - Interface\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/04\/iStock-1406299821-e1713870725116.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-23T11:15:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-23T11:15:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/#\/schema\/person\/7c33499ca8e42b097028109cccb22748\"},\"description\":\"The first wave of AI-powered consumer hardware is hitting the market, but can these devices challenge the smartphone\u2019s supremacy?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/04\/iStock-1406299821-e1713870725116.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/04\/iStock-1406299821-e1713870725116.jpg\",\"width\":1254,\"height\":802,\"caption\":\"Young Asian man wearing VR headset enjoy playing video game and levitating in the air on futuristic purple cyberpunk neon light banner background. Metaverse technology concept.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Will AI gadgets replace the smartphone? Probably not yet\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/\",\"name\":\"Interface\",\"description\":\"Delivering World Class Content \u201cFrom Executive, For Executive\u201c\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/#\/schema\/person\/7c33499ca8e42b097028109cccb22748\",\"name\":\"Dan Brightmore\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9ca282f0ef431735a64685769ad57886e24b074c4c58314392755fb79164164?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9ca282f0ef431735a64685769ad57886e24b074c4c58314392755fb79164164?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Brightmore\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/author\/dbrightmore\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Will AI gadgets replace the smartphone? Probably not yet - Interface","description":"The first wave of AI-powered consumer hardware is hitting the market, but can these devices challenge the smartphone\u2019s supremacy?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Will AI gadgets replace the smartphone? Probably not yet","og_description":"The first wave of AI-powered consumer hardware is hitting the market, but can these devices challenge the smartphone\u2019s supremacy?","og_url":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/","og_site_name":"Interface","article_published_time":"2024-04-23T11:15:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-04-23T11:15:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1254,"height":802,"url":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/04\/iStock-1406299821-e1713870725116.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dan Brightmore","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Brightmore","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/","url":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/","name":"Will AI gadgets replace the smartphone? Probably not yet - Interface","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/04\/iStock-1406299821-e1713870725116.jpg","datePublished":"2024-04-23T11:15:08+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-23T11:15:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/#\/schema\/person\/7c33499ca8e42b097028109cccb22748"},"description":"The first wave of AI-powered consumer hardware is hitting the market, but can these devices challenge the smartphone\u2019s supremacy?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/04\/iStock-1406299821-e1713870725116.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/04\/iStock-1406299821-e1713870725116.jpg","width":1254,"height":802,"caption":"Young Asian man wearing VR headset enjoy playing video game and levitating in the air on futuristic purple cyberpunk neon light banner background. Metaverse technology concept."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2024\/04\/23\/will-ai-gadgets-replace-the-smartphone-probably-not-yet\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/interface.media\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Will AI gadgets replace the smartphone? Probably not yet"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/#website","url":"https:\/\/interface.media\/","name":"Interface","description":"Delivering World Class Content \u201cFrom Executive, For Executive\u201c","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/interface.media\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/#\/schema\/person\/7c33499ca8e42b097028109cccb22748","name":"Dan Brightmore","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9ca282f0ef431735a64685769ad57886e24b074c4c58314392755fb79164164?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9ca282f0ef431735a64685769ad57886e24b074c4c58314392755fb79164164?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Brightmore"},"url":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/author\/dbrightmore\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/480"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20744,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20742\/revisions\/20744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20742"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=20742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}